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DIY Wooden Spoon Herb Plant Markers

Growing herbs adds a ton of flavor to all your recipes, but keeping track of what is growing can be challenging. These wooden spoon herb plant markers are both functional and decorative.

Herb Identification might seem easy but those tiny seedlings have a frustrating way of looking the same!

I have a large group of herbs in pots on my deck. I am lucky that they are producing here in NC from early spring until well into the fall. The rosemary and chives even stay green all winter for me. I thought it would be fun to make some plant markers for the herbs. Since I am The Gardening Cook, what better markers that kitchen utensils?

The herbs that needed markers are rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives, stevia, and oregano. I use these for my recipes all the time. I’ve grown others but these are the staples and the ones I ended up reserving the space for.

Let’s make some wooden spoon herb plant markers.

I wanted this to be an inexpensive project, so off to the dollar store I headed in search of some wooden spoons. I was going to get them all matching but when I saw the sets of fork and spoons, I bought those to give some interest to the project.

Supplies that I ended up for these wooden spoon herb plant markers are pictured here:

We are redoing a playhouse and making it into a garden shed, so I had the exact color of paint that I wanted for my markers. It is the same as the wall on our deck where the plants are sitting and I only used a tiny bit of it for the project.

Paint the utensils

The first step is to paint the wooden spoons and forks. I gave mine three coats and they dried very quickly between coats since I was working outside on a hot day. There is no need to go all the way to the end, since this is where the markers will be inserted into the earth. The sponge brush made painting easy and it was a cinch to get even brush strokes.

The mason jar holds the spoons and forks upright while they are drying and lets the air circulate around so they dried quickly. By the time I got all six done, I was able to start over with the first one again.

Label the herb names.

The next step was to do the plant names. I just wrote them on with the black paint and added a tiny nibble on the end of each letter for a crafty look that ended up being some what country looking. The spoons were all the same size but some had more of an area for painting of the names. I used these for the longer herb names.

I let the markers dry thoroughly and then placed the part of the handle with no paint into the dirt. I did not bother to use mod podge on mine since I only wanted them for one season. I like variety and will most likely try something else for marking them next season. But if you want yours to last, use outdoor modge podge on them and let this dry.

Easy peasy. The wooden spoon herb markers only less than an hour to make and that included drying time!

Like this idea? Why not check out some of these gardening projects using kitchen utensils:

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission from the sale, but the price is the same for you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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Hi! I am Carol and I love to garden and cook (with a bit of DIY thrown in for fun.)
I come from a long line of gardeners and have always loved to experiment with food and recipes.
Join me as I cook and garden my way through life.

The Gardening Cook is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. I earn a small commission if you purchase through an affiliate link but the price is the same for you.